HDB statistics, facts & figures

HDB built slightly over 1 million units since its founding in 1960 (the 1 millionth flat was completed in December 2010), SIT built about 23,000 units between 1927 and 1960, JTC and HUDC built few thousand units between 1960s and 1980s, making a total of about 1.1 million public housing units built in the history of Singapore, as 2016.

Of these 1.1 million units built, 1,017,335 units are in use at 31 March 2017 according HDB Annual Report, about 130,000 dwelling units being demolished (clearance of rental blocks and SERS), converted (2 units joined into 1 unit), privatized (HUDC), etc.

According Database of HDB blocks in Excel format, number of units is available for 10,506 blocks that were existing at least as 2010, including under construction blocks launched until November 2017 BTO. Total: 1,129,347 units, averaging 107.50 units per block.

What other statistical data would you like to see on this page? Leave a comment and tell me!

According HDB Annual Report 2015, out of 3.9 million resident population (Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents, as June 2013), 3,217,400 live in HDB apartments, this means 82% (non-residents are not allowed to own HDB apartments but they can live in apartments owned by a resident spouse, also they are allowed to own apartments in private condominiums taller than 6 storeys but not landed houses or apartments in low-rise condominiums). This means average family size of 3.42 residents per apartment and 27.56 sqm per person. For comparison, in 1968 were in average 6.2 people per apartment (average flat size I estimate around 40 sqm).

Many HDB owners are renting rooms or entire flat to foreigners, some HDB owners are citizens married with foreigners, HDB never provide official statistics about how many non-residents live in HDB apartments.

According Yearbook of Statistics 2010, Singapore population including non-residents is 5076700 living in 1180500 dwelling units (HDBs, condos, private flats, landed houses, others), of which 76.3% are HDBs, this means a nationwide average of 4.30 people per dwelling unit, if the average would be same for HDB, it would mean 22 sqm per person (no newer statistics available for non-residents).

Average household size for each flat type and race can be seen on www.singstat.gov.sg > Key Indicators and Sample Household Survey. You can see that households with 6 or more persons represent 10% of Chinese households and 23% of Malay households.

Home ownership of HDB flats reached the peak of 94% in 2002, then slowly felt down to 90% in 2011.

HDB dwelling units under management, as 31 March 2017

Biggest HDB town: Bedok during 1990s, Tampines in 1996-1999 and Jurong West since 2000. Either Sengkang or Tampines will take the lead around 2020.

Town

1-Room

2-Room

3-Room

4-Room

5-Room

E / MG

SA

Total

Ang Mo Kio

1318

3515

24363

14118

5947

492

275

50025

Bedok

2530

2205

22637

20397

10390

2715

226

61100

Bishan

564

249

2357

9359

5716

1660

167

20072

Bukit Batok

385

249

10488

14368

5335

2733

173

33728

Bukit Merah

4731

5824

16091

15697

9478

44

536

52401

Bukit Panjang

223

548

3678

16699

10425

3381

371

35325

Bukit Timah

0

45

441

920

682

380

87

2555

Central Area

2075

1316

4541

3477

901

6

0

12316

Choa Chu Kang

565

1191

2463

23465

15952

4762

502

48900

Clementi

474

716

12233

9050

3132

621

0

26226

Geylang

1231

3523

11706

9607

3591

830

216

30704

Hougang

532

1066

10610

25842

10844

4310

658

53862

Jurong East

352

427

7006

8188

5925

1871

128

23897

Jurong West

540

1832

12814

29193

21995

6507

629

73510

Kallang / Whampoa

4401

2726

13964

11854

5477

504

268

39194

Marine Parade

0

1350

3037

1798

1677

0

0

7862

Pasir Ris

176

330

491

11641

9379

7460

177

29654

Punggol

871

1433

3814

20406

15300

1126

435

43385

Queenstown

575

3253

14210

8794

3972

354

346

31504

Sembawang

601

1184

504

9441

8272

2870

0

22872

Sengkang

685

1631

3737

30619

24069

4462

778

65981

Serangoon

272

324

4541

10231

3754

2365

0

21487

Tampines

1075

965

13238

28840

17313

5846

634

67911

Toa Payoh

1168

3668

15299

10066

6017

854

286

37358

Woodlands

1824

1521

6486

28043

19713

6191

824

64602

Yishun

1038

1414

15403

29657

9837

2741

814

60904

Total

28206

42499

236152

401770

235093

65085

8530

1017335

Average flat size

31

45.26

68.03

96.31

118.47

144.71

~40

155.61

Final results

Average flat size – 93.87 sqm

Total population (Jun 2014) – 5469700 people
Resident population – 3900000 people
HDB resident population – 3213000 people (82%)
Average resident household size – 3.42 people
(27.56 sqm per capita)

Despite of shrinking flat sizes in late 1990s, average flat size has increased until 2005, reaching about 95 sqm, thanks to demolition of small 1/2/3-room flats built in 1960-1970s and building 90-140 sqm flats, also due to Main Upgrdading Programme that add 5 sqm utility rooms. After 2005 average flat size is slowly falling down because HDB stoped supply of Executive, reduced supply of 5-room, and reintroduced 1-room, 2-room and 3-room flats.

BTO flats launched since 2011 and completed from 2015 onward are about 80 sqm in average, for comparison the flats build in mid-1990s were about 120 sqm in average, a world record for public housing.

The average flat size is a bit inaccurate because the database include only sold flats, there is no info about the size of rental 1/2-room flats, and does not include flats built last 5 years which are under minimum occupation period, including them For 2005 average flat size by type I used resale transactions with lease year pre-2005.

SingStat also show population living in condos and landed houses, in case you are interested, but unfortunately there are NO detailed statistics for about number of private housing breakdown by type.

Excel files with additional statistics

HDB Statistics.xls – Excel file compiled by me, containing:
– Number of dwelling units by town and flat type, table and chart
– Number of dwelling units by town and year 1990-2017, table and chart
– Number of dwelling units by flat type and year 1990-2017, table and chart
– Statistics for calculation of the average flat size along history
– HDB achievements since 1960
– Resale market statisticsPlease leave your comments about my work!

Note that the average size of resold flats is slightly bigger than the real average flat size, because the big and <10 year old flats tends to change their owners more frequently than the small old flats owned mainly by elderly, also some of the small flats are rented from HDB rather than owned, so they never appear in resale transactions.

SINGAPORE – The installation of over 62,000 police cameras in HDB blocks and multi-storey carparks (MSCP) has been completed, the police announced in a news release on Sunday (July 10).

All 10,000 blocks and carparks under the PolCam 1.0 initiative, which was first rolled out in April 2012, are now equipped with the cameras, which police revealed have proven useful in helping to deter and solve crimes.

“As of May 2016, 2,300 video footage from the cameras provided useful leads which helped the police solve more than 1,100 cases,” the release said.

Could you tell me how many people the HDB employs. I am interested in getting public authorities in London to pay close attention to what the HBD has achieved and an indication of the scale of the HDB in terms of the numbers of people it employs and net annual expenditure required to meet its costs of operation would be very helpful to me, Thanks in anticipation for any help you can give.

[…] The likeliest reason for this is a nearly all-encompassing system of public housing. A striking 82% of Singaporeans live in public housing built by the government, and comprehensive programs exist to supplement meager […]

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